1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to data management in general and, more particularly, to a method and system for storing file system and/or volume configuration data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditionally, file system configuration data has been stored locally on the particular host system that will be accessing the file system. For example, a host generally will include information for properly accessing the file system in a file on the host device itself. For example, file system configuration is frequently stored on a boot disk (or other local storage area) of a host system. When needing to access, such as to mount, a file system, the host first reads its local configuration information in order to determine various values, such as the correct mount point and device location, for accessing the file system.
When file system data is accessed by more than one host system, such as in a clustered environment, file system configuration has traditionally been manually configured locally on each host needed access to the file system. Alternatively, file system configuration information has been communicated between different host systems via a network. Thus one host system that locally stores file system configuration information may sent that information, such as using messages over a network, to another host that needs to access the file system. Additionally, different symbolic links stored on a boot disk (or other host-local storage area) have been used for different host systems, allowing the individual host systems to access the file system in different manners or according to different configuration parameters.